Dutch optician chain Hans Anders has now also purchased the Belgian operations of its competitor Eyes + More. Back in 2018, Hans Anders acquired the formula, but the Belgian operations had remained under the ownership of independent franchisees.
Full integration
Three years after the acquisition of the parent company, Hans Anders is now able to also consider the Belgian shops of Eyes + More as part of its ownership. In 2018, Hans Anders Retail Group acquired the Dutch chain, including the stores in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Only the Belgian stores remained under the ownership of independent franchise company Eyes!, which has five private shareholders. This is now going to change.
The twenty Belgian stores will now become the property of the Dutch holding company E & M BV, which is part of Hans Anders Retail Group. The group also includes Hans Anders and the Swedish company Direkt Optik. The acquisition will allow for new development opportunities in Belgium.
Hans Anders promises that all employees will stay on and that there will be hardly any changes for the customers. “Now that we own all Belgian subsidiaries, we can develop a fully integrated strategy. This way we will benefit from all the advantages of our Group in Belgium. It will allow us to manage the commercial and financial results even better and to increase our market share in Belgium faster”, said Ulli Eickman, Eyes + More’s CEO.
